Bendak Bones Starog
by St. NerdHerder
Summary: A story of an ex-Star Marine working the lonely life of a "soldier for hire" in the vast reaches of space.
1. Chapter 1

The ground shook with each step from the towering cloud giant. It's glowing red eyes scanning the countryside in search of its prey. The prey in question happened to be a small hunting party of three humans armed with an assortment of rifles accompanied by a battle-wizard versed in the use of fire spells. The leader of the squad was a veteran of the _Dark Moon War_ who the squad referred to as _Bones_ for the tattoo that he bore on his left forearm. He didn't take it personally, although he never took anything personally, work was work what more was there to it? If they wanted to call him _Toad_ it wouldn't change his quarter portion none so why bother arguing about it.

In truth Bendak, for that was his real name, did care what they called him but both his time in the army and his need for money kept him docile. Casually he checked the ammunition belt running out of his minigun as well as the grenades along his belt, everything in perfect condition. "So...Are we waiting here all day or are we going to complete the bounty?" Said Gunner the squad's dedicated close range firearms expert. Bendak shook his head at the younger adventurer, "Have you never been on a mission with a battle-wizard? They need their time. And trust me, you want her to be prepared."

The battle-wizard in question dipped her head slightly towards Bendak as she continued to prepare her spells for the skirmish ahead. "Settle down Gunner. If you're not careful you will completely negate the use of this _chameleon netting_ and I spent a pretty penny on it let me tell you." The fourth human muttered at the excited squad member as he unloaded and reloaded his sniper rifle for the second time since they had set up camp at the top of the cliffs above the cloud giant's cave.

Another ten minutes passed and the squad found ways to keep themselves both quiet and occupied, a difficult task for even Bendak. Finally the battle-wizard closed her spellbook with finality. "Alright, I am ready for the combat to come." She said prompting Bones and Gunner to duck out of the _chameleon netting_ and, while crouching, make their way down the cliff to the plains below where they would draw the giant so it would be in the open for Mettai and Kio. The path down from the top of the cliff was covered in gravel but Gunner and Bones had made the walk nearly a dozen times in the weeks leading up to the actual ambush so they knew where to place their feet. The giant was none the wiser having turned to his meal of freshly caught deer which his was cooking over an open fire. The frontline duo made their way through the waist high grass, running in a direction that put them onto the opposite side of the fire from the giant. Once in position Bones sent an alert via his phone to Mettai who responded by firing a perfectly placed sniper bullet right into the neck of the giant who roared in pain before stumbling forward slightly into the fire scattering the red coals as he reached for his club with one hand as his other clutched his throat.

Immediately Bones and Gunner opened fire, Bones with his minigun and Gunner with a pair of fully automatic pistols. Both were firing incendiary rounds into the chest of the giant doing their best to keep him focused on them. A roaring ball of fire erupted from the bonfire before them striking the giant in the face adding to his shouts of agony as he began lumbering around the bonfire towards the pair of attackers on the ground with him. Bones whistled to Gunner and the two of them immediately split up so that one of them would always be flanking the target while the other drew his attention. As they began moving into position another crack split the air and the giant was struck again by their sniper's bullet.

The giant was now in swinging range and Bones had to drop his minigun so he could roll out of the way of the fifteen foot club which if he had been a split second slower it would have sent him tumbling a dozen or more feet away. As he drew his handgun and started running for the cover of the cliffs he felt a faint buzzing in the back of his head. " _What do they want_ _ **now**_ _._ " Bones thought to himself as he tapped his left jaw twice quickly to answer the phonecall. "What. I am extremely busy right now." He nearly growled through the line as he unloaded a full clip into the back of the giant.

" _Well Mr. Starog we have a mission for you that precedes anything that you could possibly be doing. We are sending a shuttle for you even as we speak. There's a job for you. In the core of Noct'Dogma._ " The voice buzzed in his head, the buzzing in his skull was replaced however by the roaring of engines overhead and a large beam of light shone down on the giant. "You people wouldn't know the meaning of a subtle mission if it snuck into your house and slapped you in the face." Bones muttered as he began punching a long series of numbers into his wrist computer so that he could be teleported into the vessel.

"Bones! What's going on!? Where are you going?" Shouted Gunner as he ran away from the very angry giant. "You had a contract! You can't leave us!"

" _Will they be a problem? Do you wish for us to neutralize them?_ " The voice buzzed again.

Bones' eyes met Gunner's and he saw the anger in them. "Yeah. If you don't I have a feeling they might survive and cause trouble later on." He said before pressing the activation key and the demolecularization began, in a few short seconds he would be reconstructed in the starship above.

" _As you wish._ " The voice responded a split second before the turbo lasers on the hull of the ship powered on, within five seconds they would be armed and a few seconds after that the squad would cease to exist on this or any other planet.

"Farewell companions." Bones shouted so that the pair on the cliff could hear him as well. "May you journey safely to _Valhalla_!" The last thing Bones saw before he completely disintegrated was the confused face of Gunner and then black.


	2. Chapter 2

_memory archives 4__

 _remote file access__

 _encryption (un)locked_ __

 _I assure you that you were not tracked. Any and all operatives within the Noct'Dogma Military are safe. If you are to find the smuggler for your client then it is best to remain stationary and allow our drones to find them. Noct'Dogma is not a small alliance and infiltrating them is no easy task. Perhaps if I knew who you were or why your client needed them killed- Of course. No I understand. ... I believe that to be most unwise. ... Sir. As you wish, it will be done._

 _end of recording__

 _encryption locked_ __

 _closing memory archives 4__

Bones wiped the sweat from his forehead as he made his way out of the shuttle, duffel in hand. A customs agent waved him forward and the line trailing behind him and into the ship shuffled forward a step. "Welcome to Noct'Dogma, may I see your papers please?" The agent droned on barely giving Bones a second glance as he stretched out a hand the chip scanner in the other. Of course the term "papers" was merely symbolic as all paperwork had been transitioned onto micro computer chips which could be contained in the palm of your hand, or for the more skittish, you phone. Bones would be classified as one of the skittish and he handed his phone over. Although a more accurate statement would be that he handed over 'Adam Chernick's' phone which was his current alias.

The guard handed back the phone and ushered him past as he repeated the same phrase for the next person in line. Bones nodded to the armed guards standing on either side of the elevators before stepping on and taking it to the ground level as the landing stations were suspended a thousand feet in the air on stilts so that the ships wouldn't be landing among the buildings. Those in the lap of luxury lived above the pads in floating houses that could only be accessed by private shuttle, apparently being rich meant being secluded for those of Noct'Dogma.

Bones was not one of the rich so his home for the time being would be a small one story home in the heart of the industrial yards, which was just fine for him. Here it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for a large muscular man to be walking around at all times of the day as there were day and night shifts that ran the mines, metalshops, and fabrication yards. Immediately upon entering his house he locked the door, closed the blinds, and lifted the mattress on the bed revealing a small arsenal of weapons and spy equipment. He allowed a small smile to cross his face as he grabbed a high frequency noise jammer and set it up in the middle of the building. If the house had been any larger the jammer wouldn't have been able to reach all of the rooms which was unacceptable.

He waited a minute for the system to blanket the house completely before playing the recording that was on a device under the mattress listening intently as it gave him his instructions. Once the message was finished he crushed the device under his boot and began strapping handguns on under his thick leather jacket. A few grenades in the pants pockets and a disassembled automatic rifle in a briefcase and he was ready and out the door. All in all the entire process took under thirty minutes but he was acutely aware that he was starting to slow down since the last time he had done one of these jobs.

Bones stood in yet another elevator counting the seconds between the guard rotations in his head as he held the "door close" button waiting for them to pass him by. He released the button, one second longer and an alert would have gone off telling the security team to check the camera in the elevator to see what was going on. With confidence he walked out of the elevator and through the main offices for the "Noct'Dogma Strategic Intelligence" although it was merely a front so that the government could tell the populace that they had faith in this planet and contained a skeleton regiment of soldier Bones wasn't taking any chances and made sure to head straight to the director's office.

Once there he knew the game plan as well as he knew his own birth date. Open door with his briefcase hand while drawing the silenced M12 from his left side. Two shots to the director *BLAM BLAM* then pivot to shoot the guard walking down the hall *BLAM*. Four paces forward, remove the painting from the wall and open the safe. Withdraw the external drive. Drive goes into the plated briefcase, which then gets strapped to his back. Assemble the rifle, ten seconds, smoke grenade down the hall opposite his entry and make his escape out the way he came in spraying anyone stupid enough to risk their careers and their lives with enough lead to fill a pencil factory. A milk run. Easy.

Everything was going just as he had planned. Open the door, draw the M12, shoot the director *BLAM BLAM*. Pivot to shoot the guard *BLAM*. Four paces forward, remove the painting from the wall and open the safe. But it was at this moment that everything hit the long streak of crazy that would change his life as he knew it. There sitting in the safe was a small egg, surely no larger than his thumb. It glowed defiantly at him in a pattern not unlike a dancing hall as if it had it's own rhythm despite the shooting going on around it. While internally Bones was reeling all that anyone would see on a camera was a half second pause accompanied by a blink and then the egg was nestled into the plated briefcase with the only addition being the director's jacket to help pad the interior. And then the rifle was being assembled and the grenade was down the hall. Luckily Bones wasn't met with any opposition as they had merely set off the alarms and bunkered down to wait for the properly trained response team.

In and out. Five minutes. No more, no less. "I am getting slow." Muttered Bones as he ditched the weapons in a dumpster and hopped onto a shuttle heading back to the spaceport. If everything continued as planned he would be leaving the territory within fifteen minutes and getting paid within the hour. But something about the egg was putting him on edge. Why tell him that he was retrieving an external drive when it was actually something very different, the nature of what it was still being unknown to him Bones decided that he would spend the flight out of Noct'Dogma inspecting what he had retrieved. With that out of his mind he set to updating his cover to that of 'Jonah Yesil' and by the time the shuttle had reached the spaceport he had a new identity and a new accent which he did his best to use as infrequently as possible.

Once aboard the ship to Hishacor III in the United Merchant Correlation he locked himself into his cabin and set the briefcase upon the table opening it carefully. The egg glowed yellow as it had before it's pattern now steady almost like a heartbeat. Bones sat and stared at the little thing for a few moments and was about to get up and hit the head when a voice spoke in his mind. This voice was different than the chip that had been implanted years ago from his "generous benefactor" it was soft and reminded him of when he was a child on Langcaster enjoying the sunny afternoons rather than traversing the cold universe and he was shook to his core as he remembered that voice well.

 _"Hello. Son."_


End file.
